Save Mt. Ashland

The majority of the Mt. Ashland Association board members and Mt. Ashland management strongly believe that an expansion is necessary if the ski area is to survive. The board and management are made up of sincere and hard-working people. That said, I also believe that in the process of attempting to get the expansion approved, they are killing the mountain.

At the recent annual MAA public meeting I asked a question concerning what happens if we have a bad snow year. A former board member replied that the mountain would be forced to shut down, and no one disputed that statement. I asked the board to consider getting a new general manager. Why?

When Kim Clark became general manager four years ago, the mountain was selling 6,000 season passes annually, was a seven-day-a-week operation and, to my knowledge, had a rainy-day fund to keep the mountain afloat in the event of a bad snow year or two. This year the mountain has sold 1,419 season passes so far, is a five-day-a-week operation and is one bad snow year away from shutting down. The situation speaks for itself.

According to the Mt. Ashland Web site, the mountain has spent more than $2.3 million in an attempt to get the expansion approved. They are now asking the community to donate another $1 million to "begin to offset legal expenses." There will be more costly environmental impact statements to pay for and further legal expenses defending the expansion from lawsuits. The expansion effort has gone on since 1991 and still may well not happen for financial and environmental reasons.

Every time you buy a season pass or day pass, part of the money you spend goes toward the expansion effort. If you are a skier or rider and pay property taxes in Ashland, you have been paying the city to fight Mt. Ashland and paying Mt. Ashland to fight the city.

I propose that we drop the expansion and nurture what we have. Let's stop wasting money on an expansion that may not happen and use that money to re-establish a rainy day fund for the poor snow years. In the meantime, pray for snow, because our beloved Mt. Ashland is one bad snow year away from being closed and dismantled.

Pete Toogood

Ashland